Sun Sets On Iowa
With six months to go until the presidential primary season, the race for the Republican nomination is already beginning to take form.
Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, the first casualty of the Iowa Straw poll, quit the race Monday after six years, $24 million and an untold number of plaid shirts, reports CBS News Correspondent Eric Engberg.
He is worried, he said, that George W. Bush is having things too easy.
"My only argument in the campaign is a winner is somebody who can beat Al Gore in a debate," said Alexander. "And we better have a rehearsal before we pick our candidate."
It may be a goofy way to judge political candidates, says CBS News Face the Nation Anchor Bob Schieffer, but for Republicans, it's been the only game in the country so far. Saturday, nearly 25,000 Iowans paid (or let somebody else pay) $25 for them to vote for a Republican presidential candidate.
Elizabeth Dole, a big Iowa winner, saw immediate benefits from her third place finish -- bigger crowds in New Hampshire.
A question raised by Dole's strong Iowa showing is whether she has tapped a whole new vein of GOP primary voters: women new to politics.
"It was especially good for me," said Dole, "because we didn't spend gobs of money. Literally millions of dollars were spent. We did not do that."
Here's how it ran:
- George W. Bush: 31.3 percent
- Stephen Forbes: 20.8 percent
- Elizabeth Dole: 14.4 percent
- Gary Bauer: 8.9 percent
- Pat Buchanan: 7.3 percent
- Lamar Alexander: 6.0 percent
- Alan Keyes: 4.6 percent
- Dan Quayle: 3.9 percent
- Sen. Orrin Hatch: 2.4 percent
 CBS | |
| Elizabeth Dole |
Commentator Pat Buchanan mounted a strong showing for the GOP nomination in the last election cycle, but finished fifth in the latest straw poll. He evaded answers about whether he would bolt the party.
 CBS Pat Buchanan | | |
"I think he's wrong on his China policy, his Kosovo policy, his immigration policy, his support of NAFTA is wrong for American workers, and he's quite cavalier about the issue of right-to-life in the famous Talk magazine article. I think we are going to challenge Gov. Bush, though it hasn't happened yet."
 CBS | |
| Sen. John McCain |
"I would say today, for example, with the entire Quayle leadership joining our team in South Carolina, and our continuing success in New Hampshire that we're very happy with where we are," said McCain.
McCain, the only candidate to skip the straw poll, called it "a meaningless exercise." He said he's glad it's over and that he is looking forward to "having debates so that people can make informed judgments rather than paying people and having tens of millions of dollars spent."
McCain hinted strongly that he might bypass Iowa's leadoff precinct caucuses as well.
 CBS | |
| Dan Quayle |
"I'm more determined than ever to get my message before the American people," Quayle said on Face the Nation. "We'll go on."
Despite winning this early key test, George W. Bush faces problems of his own. Even sympathetic Republicans say his Iowa speech contained more platitudes than hard positions.
"America's strongest foundation," said Bush, "is not found in our wallets, it is found in our souls."
As the political sun sets on Iowa, at least until next year, Bush knows he must fill in some of the blanks on his qualifications and policies. And that always complicates the front-runner's path to nomiation.